1. Field
The disclosed embodiments generally relate to data collection and data warehousing, and in particular to developing and creating data repositories, including data warehouse design and maintenance applications.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
When a user builds a data repository of information and reports, typically they make copy of an already existing set of programs, reports, table structures, etc. and then modify the definitions for the specific purpose. Usually there is a combination of standard and non-standard definitions used. The standard structures may or may not come from a library of standards.
Once these copies have been created and modified, they need to be fully retested in each specific application. As problems are found in the original definitions that were the source of the copy, these changes cannot be automatically cascaded to the places that have used various versions of the original source definition.
Currently companies deal with this problem with a set of complex and expensive manual processes. This process usually requires trained specialists and the cost of rolling out and maintaining many large-scale custom repositories across the entire enterprise is prohibitive. It would be advantageous, therefore, to be able to develop or build an application based upon interconnected instances of library definitions.